The 50's is definitely the best decade for Sci-fi films. I love too many of them to decide on a favorite. A few that come to mind at this moment are "Robot Monster," "It Conquered the World," and "The Brain From Planet Arous." As you can see, I like mine with plenty of cheese! The 50's was a bit of a dry spell for horror movies though. There were a few good ones, but I'd say the 30's and 40's were the decade for American horror films. Then the Europeans took up the slack in the 60's and 70's.

I think that something that sets "The Thing" (the original) apart from so many other 50's science fiction films is that the dialog and interaction moves at a breakneck pace throughout the story. Many of the films back then had a more methodical pacing, but "The Thing" tends to race off and carry you along.

Oh, for sure. Its that realistic 'talking over one another' that helps sell the story, in a subcontious way.PHANTOM FROM 10.000LEAGUES...Yee-hee-hee! I had a ball with that turkey...A hero who first gives his name as Ted Baxter (Oh, louuuu!) , an office wall thats a gunrack fir spearguns, and...THE DINGY OF DEATH! That rowboat is used for every on water scene, and it protends death, for all but the hero...Oh, the cheese,the cheese...

That Quatermass movie was "50's? Really? Whoops! I just looked: Almost all of them '50's, '50's, '50's . . .I do like those, but I guess I tend to forget their '50's origins as my favorite Quatermass is most definitely 1967: Quatermass and The Pit, aka 5 Million Years to Earth.That said, I do love a good alien devouring a secret installation movie! Bravo Quatermass --peter johnson/denny crane

As a boy I spent a lot of Saturdays at the local theater watching 50's horror/sci-fi, I love all those old movies, If I started to list them I'd have to list them all, good or bad they were always entertaining. Even the worst would usually have at least one almost genuinely scary moment, most actually had at least a few truly scary scenes, and the good ones are true classics. They seem to appeal to something in all of us. I tend to get sudden inspirations and binge on these films so rather than a list of favorites, I'll list a recent holiday viewing.Attack of the Crab MonstersThemBeginning of the EndKillers from SpaceIt, Terror from Beyond SpaceThe Thing (original)I then started on "The Atomic Submarine", but reality intervened and I was forced to stop about 15 minutes into the movie. Tonight I think I'll watch it from the beginning.

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Science claims that hydrogen, because there is so much of it, is the building block of the universe, I dispute this, there is plenty more stupidity, and that is the building block of the universe. Frank Zappa

I love 'em all too. Funny thing...even the old 'classic' supernatural monsters had a 50's sci fi twist to 'em...in the WEREWOLF, Steven Ritchie is turned into a wolfman by science,not by a curse,and the traditional zombies are as a result of invaders from space,and not voodoo. Giant gorilla (KONGA) and dinosaurs (GODZILLA) are the result of scientific or atomic f%ck ups...not the inhabitaints of misty 'Lost Worlds'...and vampires too -(John Beal in the VAMPIRE and the Itailian ATOM AGE VAMPIRE.) Even the feel of some of them (the MAN from PLANET X,directed by horror and noir vet Edgar Ulmer) had a Universal Pictures aura to them.

Watch the trailer to the MAN from PLANET X...with it's foggy hills and twisted dead trees...you could almost be in Translvania...

That's a brilliant trailer, actually --Brilliant, because it shows you that the "monster" looks like a Pinnochio reject & yet you still want to see the picture.The girl-in-distress is very convincing & seems a good actress.But . . . Cheeseball City, re. the Man From Planet X Himself -- I bet they stole that mask from a local opera company & doctored it themselves --Love the spaceship!peter johnson/denny wooden boy

If I'm not mistaken Teenagers from Space has what to me has always been a truly frightening scene, the one where the hobo gets in the back of the truck carrying that ridiculous crawfish monster. You see the truck then hear him screaming along with a crackling snapping noise that I've always thought were his bones breaking as he's dismembered and eaten. I still have the occasional bad dream along these lines.

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Science claims that hydrogen, because there is so much of it, is the building block of the universe, I dispute this, there is plenty more stupidity, and that is the building block of the universe. Frank Zappa

A lot of my favorites have already been mentioned, especially the 50's Quatermass films. The Quatermass serial versions of "Quatermass II" and "Quatermass and the Pit" are even better than their Hammer counterparts IMO.

Two other huge favorites are THE CRAWLING EYE a.k.a. THE TROLLENBERG TERROR (Jase mentioned this one) which is a sublime example of how a Lovecraft movie should be made (even though this isn't based on a Lovecraft story), and THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN with Peter Cushing and Forrest Tucker--the best Yeti movie ever made, period.

The first two Hammer Frankensteins (CURSE and REVENGE) were also made in the 50s and technically science fiction, so I would add them to my favorites list as well...though really they are responsible with HORROR OF DRACULA for starting the 60s technicolor horror phase.

One tends to forget just how old some of these things really are --Yes, the great Hammer Dracula & Frankenstein were both '50's films -- good Gawd!The Quatermass and The Pit BBC-TV serial is so old that it even got the BBC Radio Goon Show parody treatment!!peter johnson/denny crane

Oh, the memories! Funny thing is, the 50s are soo far away for me. I basically grew up in the 80s, televisionally speaking. So my first memories about then-current TV experiences are awkward 80s series like The Fall Guy and others. Still, my fondest memories belong to some 50s classics:

Invaders from Mars was the scariest thing I've ever seen, along with, surprisingly, Arsenic and Old Lace.

I also vividly remember The Incredible Shrinking Man, but in a rather astonishing than frightening way.

Them was actually the first movie I saw in English, on the telly in some hotel room in the US while on vacation with my dad (who also likes these kind of movies...) when I was eleven years old. It is one of two movies I remember from this vacation. The other was some pirate flick, I can just recall two pirates arguing about something in front of an open treasure chest, one gets angry and smashes the lid of the chest and cuts off the hand of the other pirate. Probably I should move this to the "What was that film" section... I later watched Tarantula back home, also scary but not as horrible as Invaders from Mars.

I just watched The Horror of Spider Island yesterday. I got BOTH 50 movie classics (scifi and horror) from my girlfriend for christmas (brag, brag, brag...). It is indeed not the pinnacle of b-movies, but is has it's moments. I totally agree with Andrew here. In my private double feature, I enjoyed Atomic Age Vampire more...

* JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH* WAR OF THE WORLDS* FORBIDDEN PLANET* THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN* THE FLY* WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE* THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL* INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS* THE BLOB

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"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."

I have to agree that the decade itself really generated so many great movies thanks to the red scare, atoms for peace, the first true explosion of pop culture. I never saw any of them first hand, but thanks to the like of Commander USA's groovy movies and others I had my chance. I don't want to seem redundant but Forbidden Planet was probably my favorite. I loved the special effects which were pretty good for its day. Concerning the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I hate to say it but I'm a fan of the 70's version over the original probably because I saw that one first. Here are some others in no particular order: The BlobThe FlyMant20,000 Leagues Under the SeaIt Came From Outer Space